Hostname: page-component-6bf8c574d5-vmclg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-22T15:02:45.921Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Lead and Barium in Archaeological Roman Skeletons Measured by Nondestructive X-Ray Fluorescence Analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2019

L. Ahlgren ,
J.-O. Christoffersson  and
S. Mattsson
L. Ahlgren
Affiliation:
Radiation Physics Department, University of Lund, S-221 85 Lund, Sweden
J.-O. Christoffersson
Affiliation:
Radiation Physics Department, University of Lund, S-221 85 Lund, Sweden
S. Mattsson
Affiliation:
Radiation Physics Department, University of Lund, S-221 85 Lund, Sweden
Get access

Extract

Lead is a non-essential toxic metal of considerable topicality. It is accumulated in the skeleton, which contains 90% of the total body burden.

It is known that during the Roman period the intake of lead was high. The Romans used kitchen utensils made of lead and lead pipes for drinking water. The most important source of lead for people of the upper social classes was sapa, a compound added to wine to sweeten and perserve it.

Using non-destructive X-ray fluorescence analysis, lead and barium concentrations of archaeological Roman bones have been measured. We have earlier used a similar technique to determine lead concentration in the human skeleton in vivo.

Type
Research Article
Information
Advances in X-Ray Analysis , Volume 24: Twenty-Ninth Annual Conference on Applications of X-ray Analysis, August 4-8, 1980 , 1980 , pp. 377 - 382
Copyright
Copyright © International Centre for Diffraction Data 1980

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Schroeder, H. A. and Tipton, I. H., The Human Body burden of Lead, Archives of Environmental Health 17, 965–978 (1968)Google Scholar
2. Gilfillan, S. C., Lead Poisoning and the Fall of Rome, Journal of Occupational Medicine 7, 53–60 (1965).Google Scholar
3. Ahlgren, L., Gronberg, T. and Mattsson, S., In vivo X-ray Fluorescence Analysis for Medical Diagnosis, Advances in X-ray Analysis 23, 185–191 (1980).Google Scholar
4. Weber, J. and van den Berge, D. J., British Journal of Radiology 42, 378 (1969).Google Scholar
5. Strehlow, C. D. and Kneip, T.J., The Distribution of Lead and Zinc in the Human Skeleton, Journal of the American Industrial Hygiene Association 30, 372–378 (1969).Google Scholar
6. ICRP, Report No 23, Report of the Task Group on Reference Man, Pergamon Press, Oxford (1975).Google Scholar
7. French, N. R., Review and discussion of Barium, Radioecology, 557–560 (1963).Google Scholar
8. Healy, R. B. and Ludwig, T. G., Barium Content of teeth, bone and kidney of twin sheep raised on pastures of differing barium content, Archives of oral Biology 13, 559–563 (1968).Google Scholar
9. Ahlgren, L., Haeger-Aronsen, B., Mattsson, S. and Schutz, A., In vivo determination of lead in the skeleton after occupational exposure to lead, British Journal of Industrial Medicine 37, 109–113 (1980).Google Scholar